Mexico is enjoyable year-round, but October to May is generally the most pleasant time to visit. The May-September period can be hot and humid, particularly in the south, and inland temperatures can approach freezing during December-February. Facilities are often heavily booked during Semana Santa (the week before Easter) and Christmas/New Year, the peak domestic travel periods.
Mexico's climate has something for everyone: it's hot and humid along the coastal plains, and drier and more temperate at higher elevations inland (Guadalajara or Mexico City, for example). Try to avoid Mexico's southern coast between July and September - the resorts are decidedly soggy and jam-packed, as July-August is also the peak holiday months for foreign visitors.
Exchanging money in Mexico: Using ATMs in Mexico Cash Machines (ATMs) are now widespread in Mexico. They are almost always open, very reliable and will dish out Mexican pesos to anyone with a card connected to one of the global networks, like VISA, MasterCard, American Express, etc.
Exchange rates are generally favorable, as you tend to get the "wholesale bank rate" (or very close to it) instead of the tourist rate, which can be quite different (not in your favor), although other service charges do apply (see below).
ATMs are by far the quickest and most efficient way to get access to local currency in Mexico.
The history of Mexico begins perhaps as much as 30,000 years ago. Sometime during the last ice age nomadic tribes of hunter-gatherers from Asia first crossed the Bering Strait and entered the Western Hemisphere. (There is is now an alternative theory that peoples also landed in the South Americas from both Africa and the Pacific Islands and gradually moved north into the North American continent). Following the seasonal supply of wild grains and game, they eventually migrated into the region separating North and South America dubbed by archaeologists as Mesoamerica. With its diverse geography and extraordinary natural abundance, this land gave rise to the development of early civilizations unique in the world. Pre-Hispanic Mexico
The earliest phase of Mexico's colorful history is generally broken down into four periods:
ARCHAIC, up to 1500 BC
PRE-CLASSIC or FORMATIVE, 1500 BC-300 AD
CLASSIC, 300-900 AD
POST-CLASSIC, 900-1521 AD
The first traces of human life found in Mexico date back to about 20,000 BC. Social organization and rudimentary agriculture developed gradually, with the cultivation of squashes, chili peppers, beans and maize beginning perhaps as early as 6500 BC. As the food supply stabilized, the early hunter-gatherers grew more sedentary. Permanent settlements seem to have first appeared in coastal areas around 1500 BC, marking the beginning of a succession of highly developed and eventually interdependent cultures that would continue to 1500 AD.
The various civilizations of Mesoamerica are distinguished from others elsewhere in the New World by a variety of common cultural developments including hieroglyphic writing, commerce and trade, an extensive knowledge of astronomy, a highly accurate calendar system, and fascinating religious beliefs featuring a complex pantheon, a ritualistic ball game, and human and animal sacrifices.
The cost of flying to Mexico is usually higher around Christmas and New Year, and during July and August. Weekends can be more costly than weekdays. In addition to air-ticket websites and travel agencies, it’s often worth checking airlines’ own websites for special deals. Newspapers, magazines and websites serving Mexican communities in other countries are also good sources.
If Mexico is part of a bigger trip encompassing other countries in Latin America or elsewhere, the best ticket for you may be an open-jaw (where you fly into one place and out of another, covering the intervening distance by land), or a round-the-world ticket (these can cost as little as UK£900 or A$2100), or a Circle Pacific ticket which uses a combination of airlines to travel around the Pacific region. Airtreks (www.airtreks.com) is one good source for multistop tickets.
International online booking agencies worth a look include CheapTickets (www.cheaptickets.com) and, for students and travelers under the age of 26, STA Travel (www.statravel.com).
Sea
For those who like to combine snatches of Mexico with a life of ease on the high seas, cruises from the US enable you to enjoy activities and attractions on and near Mexico’s coasts without having to worry about the logistics of accommodations, eating or transportation. Mexico is the world’s most popular cruise destination, with over six million cruise passengers a year arriving at Mexican ports. Caribbean Mexico is the most popular cruise destination, usually in combination with other Caribbean stops and/or Key West, Florida, and Isla Cozumel is the single busiest stop. Mexico’s other Caribbean cruise ports are Puerto Morelos and Calica, just south of Playa del Carmen. The Costa Maya terminal at Mahahual was destroyed by Hurricane Dean in 2007 but there are plans to rebuild it.
On the Pacific route (the Mexican Riviera in cruise parlance), the main ports of call are Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco; cruises also call at Manzanillo, Zihuatanejo, Bahías de Huatulco and the new Puerto Chiapas, near Tapachula.
A Caribbean cruise from ports in the southeastern US, or a Mexican Riviera cruise from California, can cost well under US$1000 per person for 10 days.
Border crossings
There are over 40 official crossing points on the US–Mexico border. There are about 10 between Guatemala and Mexico, and two between Belize and Mexico. Most Mexican border towns are not places where many travelers have much reason to linger.
Vehicle permit
You will need a permiso de importación temporal de vehículos (temporary vehicle import permit) if you want to take a vehicle beyond Baja California, beyond Guaymas in Sonora state, or beyond the border zone that extends 20km to 30km into Mexico along the rest of the US frontier and up to 70km from the Guatemalan and Belize frontiers. Officials at posts of the Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM; National Immigration Institute) in the border zones, and at the ferry terminal at La Paz, Baja California, if you are taking a vehicle across from there to mainland Mexico, will want to see your permit. Permits are not needed to take vehicles into Baja California itself, and the state of Sonora does not require them for travel as far south as Guaymas.
The permits are issued at offices at border crossings or (in some cases) at posts a few kilometers into Mexico, at Ensenada port and Pichilingue (La Paz) ferry terminal in Baja California, and by the Mexican consulates in Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Phoenix, Albuquerque and Denver. Details of all these locations are given at www.banjercito.com.mx (click on ‘Red de Módulos IITV’). You can also apply for the permit online at www.banjercito.com.mx (‘Application for Temporary Import Permit for Vehicles’), in which case it will be delivered to you by courier.
The fee for the permit is the peso equivalent of US$29.70 if obtained at or after the border, US$39.60 from a Mexican consulate, or US$49.50 online. You can also pre-register online which speeds up the process of actually obtaining the permit at a consulate or the border.
The person importing the vehicle will need to carry the original and one or two photocopies of each of the following documents (people at the office may make photocopies for a small fee), which as a rule must all be in his/her own name (except that you can bring in your spouse’s, parent’s or child’s vehicle if you can show a marriage or birth certificate proving your relationship) :
- tourist card (FMT) : at the border go to migración before you process your vehicle permit.
- certificate of title or registration certificate for the vehicle (note that you should have both of these if you plan to drive through Mexico into either Guatemala or Belize).
- a Visa, MasterCard or American Express credit card, issued by a an institution outside of Mexico; if you don’t have one you must pay a returnable deposit of between US$200 and US$400 (depending on how old the car is) at the border. Your card details or deposit serve as a guarantee that you’ll take the car out of Mexico before your tourist card (FMT) expires. Note: for online and consulate applications, only Visa and MasterCard are accepted.
- proof of citizenship or residency, such as a passport, birth certificate or voter’s registration card.
- driver’s license.
- if the vehicle is not fully paid for, a credit contract from the financing institution or an invoice letter that is less than three months old.
- for a leased or rented vehicle (though few US rental firms allow their vehicles to be taken into Mexico), the contract, in the name of the person importing the vehicle, and a letter from the rental company authorizing you to take it out of the US.
- for a company car, proof of employment by the company and proof of the company’s ownership of the vehicle.
One person cannot bring in two vehicles. If you have a motorcycle attached to your car, you’ll need another adult traveling with you to obtain a permit for the motorcycle, and he/she will need to have all the right papers for it.
With the permit you will be given a sticker to be displayed on your windshield.
You have the option to take the vehicle in and out of Mexico for the period shown on your tourist card. Ask for a tarjetón de internación, a document which you will exchange for a comprobante de retorno each time you leave Mexico; when you return to Mexico, you swap the comprobante for another tarjetón. When you leave Mexico the last time, you must have the import permit canceled by the Mexican authorities. An official may do this as you enter the border zone, usually 20km to 30km before the border itself. If not, you’ll have to find the right official at the border crossing. If you leave Mexico without having the permit canceled, the authorities may assume you’ve left the vehicle in the country illegally and decide to keep your deposit, charge a fine to your credit card, or deny you permission to bring a vehicle into the country on your next trip.
Only the owner may take the vehicle out of Mexico. If the vehicle is wrecked completely, you must contact your consulate or a Mexican customs office to make arrangements to leave without it.
Guatemala
The road borders at La Mesilla/Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, Ciudad Tecún Umán/Ciudad Hidalgo and El Carmen/Talismán are all linked to Guatemala City, and nearby cities within Guatemala and Mexico, by plentiful buses and/or combis. A few daily buses are run all the way between Guatemala City and Tapachula, Chiapas (six hours) via Escuintla and Mazatenango by Trans Galgos Inter (in Guatemala City 2232-3661; www.transgalgosinter.com.gt; US$25-35), Línea Dorada (in Guatemala City 2232-5506; www.tikalmayanworld.com; US$15) and Tica Bus (in Guatemala City 2366-4038; www.ticabus.com; US$16).
There are a few daily buses between Flores, Guatemala, and Chetumal (US$28, seven to eight hours), via Belize City, run by Línea Dorada/Mundo Maya (in Flores 7926-0070) and San Juan Travel (in Flores 7926-0041).
For the Río Usumacinta route between Flores and Palenque, Mexico, several daily 2nd-class buses run from Flores to Bethel (US$4, four hours), on the Guatemalan bank of the Usumacinta. The 40-minute boat trip from Bethel to Frontera Corozal, Mexico, costs US$7 to US$13 per person; an alternative is to take a bus from Flores that continues through Bethel to La Técnica (US$6, five to six hours), from which it’s only a US$1.50, five-minute river crossing to Frontera Corozal. Vans run from Frontera Corozal to Palenque (US$6, three hours, 13 daily). Travel agencies in Palenque and Flores offer bus-boat-bus packages between the two places from around US$40, but if you’re traveling this route it’s well worth detouring to the outstanding Maya ruins at Yaxchilán, near Frontera Corozal.
Average Rainfall
When to go to Mexico?
Mexico is enjoyable year-round, but October to May is generally the most pleasant time to visit. The May-September period can be hot and humid, particularly in the south, and inland temperatures can approach freezing during December-February. Facilities are often heavily booked during Semana Santa (the week before Easter) and Christmas/New Year, the peak domestic travel periods.
Mexico's climate has something for everyone: it's hot and humid along the coastal plains, and drier and more temperate at higher elevations inland (Guadalajara or Mexico City, for example). Try to avoid Mexico's southern coast between July and September - the resorts are decidedly soggy and jam-packed, as July-August is also the peak holiday months for foreign visitors.
Website: http://www.donquijote.org/tourist/profiles/paises/mexico/when.asp
Date online: 16/11/09
Exchanging money in Mexico: Using ATMs in Mexico
Cash Machines (ATMs) are now widespread in Mexico. They are almost always open, very reliable and will dish out Mexican pesos to anyone with a card connected to one of the global networks, like VISA, MasterCard, American Express, etc.
Exchange rates are generally favorable, as you tend to get the "wholesale bank rate" (or very close to it) instead of the tourist rate, which can be quite different (not in your favor), although other service charges do apply (see below).
ATMs are by far the quickest and most efficient way to get access to local currency in Mexico.
Website: http://www.mexperience.com/guide/essentials/money.htm#8
Date online: 16/11/09
THE HISTORY OF MEXICO:
The history of Mexico begins perhaps as much as 30,000 years ago. Sometime during the last ice age nomadic tribes of hunter-gatherers from Asia first crossed the Bering Strait and entered the Western Hemisphere. (There is is now an alternative theory that peoples also landed in the South Americas from both Africa and the Pacific Islands and gradually moved north into the North American continent). Following the seasonal supply of wild grains and game, they eventually migrated into the region separating North and South America dubbed by archaeologists as Mesoamerica. With its diverse geography and extraordinary natural abundance, this land gave rise to the development of early civilizations unique in the world.
Pre-Hispanic Mexico
The earliest phase of Mexico's colorful history is generally broken down into four periods:
ARCHAIC, up to 1500 BC
PRE-CLASSIC or FORMATIVE, 1500 BC-300 AD
CLASSIC, 300-900 AD
POST-CLASSIC, 900-1521 AD
The first traces of human life found in Mexico date back to about 20,000 BC. Social organization and rudimentary agriculture developed gradually, with the cultivation of squashes, chili peppers, beans and maize beginning perhaps as early as 6500 BC. As the food supply stabilized, the early hunter-gatherers grew more sedentary. Permanent settlements seem to have first appeared in coastal areas around 1500 BC, marking the beginning of a succession of highly developed and eventually interdependent cultures that would continue to 1500 AD.
The various civilizations of Mesoamerica are distinguished from others elsewhere in the New World by a variety of common cultural developments including hieroglyphic writing, commerce and trade, an extensive knowledge of astronomy, a highly accurate calendar system, and fascinating religious beliefs featuring a complex pantheon, a ritualistic ball game, and human and animal sacrifices.
Website: http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/2588-a-brief-history-in-mexico
Date online: 16/11/09
Travel in Mexico: Tickets
The cost of flying to Mexico is usually higher around Christmas and New Year, and during July and August. Weekends can be more costly than weekdays. In addition to air-ticket websites and travel agencies, it’s often worth checking airlines’ own websites for special deals. Newspapers, magazines and websites serving Mexican communities in other countries are also good sources.If Mexico is part of a bigger trip encompassing other countries in Latin America or elsewhere, the best ticket for you may be an open-jaw (where you fly into one place and out of another, covering the intervening distance by land), or a round-the-world ticket (these can cost as little as UK£900 or A$2100), or a Circle Pacific ticket which uses a combination of airlines to travel around the Pacific region. Airtreks (www.airtreks.com) is one good source for multistop tickets.
International online booking agencies worth a look include CheapTickets (www.cheaptickets.com) and, for students and travelers under the age of 26, STA Travel (www.statravel.com).
Sea
For those who like to combine snatches of Mexico with a life of ease on the high seas, cruises from the US enable you to enjoy activities and attractions on and near Mexico’s coasts without having to worry about the logistics of accommodations, eating or transportation. Mexico is the world’s most popular cruise destination, with over six million cruise passengers a year arriving at Mexican ports. Caribbean Mexico is the most popular cruise destination, usually in combination with other Caribbean stops and/or Key West, Florida, and Isla Cozumel is the single busiest stop. Mexico’s other Caribbean cruise ports are Puerto Morelos and Calica, just south of Playa del Carmen. The Costa Maya terminal at Mahahual was destroyed by Hurricane Dean in 2007 but there are plans to rebuild it.On the Pacific route (the Mexican Riviera in cruise parlance), the main ports of call are Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco; cruises also call at Manzanillo, Zihuatanejo, Bahías de Huatulco and the new Puerto Chiapas, near Tapachula.
A Caribbean cruise from ports in the southeastern US, or a Mexican Riviera cruise from California, can cost well under US$1000 per person for 10 days.
Border crossings
There are over 40 official crossing points on the US–Mexico border. There are about 10 between Guatemala and Mexico, and two between Belize and Mexico. Most Mexican border towns are not places where many travelers have much reason to linger.Vehicle permit
You will need a permiso de importación temporal de vehículos (temporary vehicle import permit) if you want to take a vehicle beyond Baja California, beyond Guaymas in Sonora state, or beyond the border zone that extends 20km to 30km into Mexico along the rest of the US frontier and up to 70km from the Guatemalan and Belize frontiers. Officials at posts of the Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM; National Immigration Institute) in the border zones, and at the ferry terminal at La Paz, Baja California, if you are taking a vehicle across from there to mainland Mexico, will want to see your permit. Permits are not needed to take vehicles into Baja California itself, and the state of Sonora does not require them for travel as far south as Guaymas.The permits are issued at offices at border crossings or (in some cases) at posts a few kilometers into Mexico, at Ensenada port and Pichilingue (La Paz) ferry terminal in Baja California, and by the Mexican consulates in Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Phoenix, Albuquerque and Denver. Details of all these locations are given at www.banjercito.com.mx (click on ‘Red de Módulos IITV’). You can also apply for the permit online at www.banjercito.com.mx (‘Application for Temporary Import Permit for Vehicles’), in which case it will be delivered to you by courier.
The fee for the permit is the peso equivalent of US$29.70 if obtained at or after the border, US$39.60 from a Mexican consulate, or US$49.50 online. You can also pre-register online which speeds up the process of actually obtaining the permit at a consulate or the border.
The person importing the vehicle will need to carry the original and one or two photocopies of each of the following documents (people at the office may make photocopies for a small fee), which as a rule must all be in his/her own name (except that you can bring in your spouse’s, parent’s or child’s vehicle if you can show a marriage or birth certificate proving your relationship) :
- tourist card (FMT) : at the border go to migración before you process your vehicle permit.
- certificate of title or registration certificate for the vehicle (note that you should have both of these if you plan to drive through Mexico into either Guatemala or Belize).
- a Visa, MasterCard or American Express credit card, issued by a an institution outside of Mexico; if you don’t have one you must pay a returnable deposit of between US$200 and US$400 (depending on how old the car is) at the border. Your card details or deposit serve as a guarantee that you’ll take the car out of Mexico before your tourist card (FMT) expires. Note: for online and consulate applications, only Visa and MasterCard are accepted.
- proof of citizenship or residency, such as a passport, birth certificate or voter’s registration card.
- driver’s license.
- if the vehicle is not fully paid for, a credit contract from the financing institution or an invoice letter that is less than three months old.
- for a leased or rented vehicle (though few US rental firms allow their vehicles to be taken into Mexico), the contract, in the name of the person importing the vehicle, and a letter from the rental company authorizing you to take it out of the US.
- for a company car, proof of employment by the company and proof of the company’s ownership of the vehicle.
One person cannot bring in two vehicles. If you have a motorcycle attached to your car, you’ll need another adult traveling with you to obtain a permit for the motorcycle, and he/she will need to have all the right papers for it.
With the permit you will be given a sticker to be displayed on your windshield.
You have the option to take the vehicle in and out of Mexico for the period shown on your tourist card. Ask for a tarjetón de internación, a document which you will exchange for a comprobante de retorno each time you leave Mexico; when you return to Mexico, you swap the comprobante for another tarjetón. When you leave Mexico the last time, you must have the import permit canceled by the Mexican authorities. An official may do this as you enter the border zone, usually 20km to 30km before the border itself. If not, you’ll have to find the right official at the border crossing. If you leave Mexico without having the permit canceled, the authorities may assume you’ve left the vehicle in the country illegally and decide to keep your deposit, charge a fine to your credit card, or deny you permission to bring a vehicle into the country on your next trip.
Only the owner may take the vehicle out of Mexico. If the vehicle is wrecked completely, you must contact your consulate or a Mexican customs office to make arrangements to leave without it.
Guatemala
The road borders at La Mesilla/Ciudad Cuauhtémoc, Ciudad Tecún Umán/Ciudad Hidalgo and El Carmen/Talismán are all linked to Guatemala City, and nearby cities within Guatemala and Mexico, by plentiful buses and/or combis. A few daily buses are run all the way between Guatemala City and Tapachula, Chiapas (six hours) via Escuintla and Mazatenango by Trans Galgos Inter (in Guatemala City 2232-3661; www.transgalgosinter.com.gt; US$25-35), Línea Dorada (in Guatemala City 2232-5506; www.tikalmayanworld.com; US$15) and Tica Bus (in Guatemala City 2366-4038; www.ticabus.com; US$16).There are a few daily buses between Flores, Guatemala, and Chetumal (US$28, seven to eight hours), via Belize City, run by Línea Dorada/Mundo Maya (in Flores 7926-0070) and San Juan Travel (in Flores 7926-0041).
For the Río Usumacinta route between Flores and Palenque, Mexico, several daily 2nd-class buses run from Flores to Bethel (US$4, four hours), on the Guatemalan bank of the Usumacinta. The 40-minute boat trip from Bethel to Frontera Corozal, Mexico, costs US$7 to US$13 per person; an alternative is to take a bus from Flores that continues through Bethel to La Técnica (US$6, five to six hours), from which it’s only a US$1.50, five-minute river crossing to Frontera Corozal. Vans run from Frontera Corozal to Palenque (US$6, three hours, 13 daily). Travel agencies in Palenque and Flores offer bus-boat-bus packages between the two places from around US$40, but if you’re traveling this route it’s well worth detouring to the outstanding Maya ruins at Yaxchilán, near Frontera Corozal.
Train
Though there are no regular passenger trains on the Mexican side of the US–Mexico border, it’s quite possible to reach the US side of the border by rail. Trains can be quicker and cheaper than buses, or slower and more expensive, depending on the route. Amtrak (800-872-7245; www.amtrak.com) serves four US cities from which access to Mexico is easy: San Diego, California (opposite Tijuana); El Paso, Texas (opposite Ciudad Juárez); Del Rio, Texas (opposite Ciudad Acuña) and San Antonio, Texas, which is linked by bus to Eagle Pass (opposite Piedras Negras) and Laredo (opposite Nuevo Laredo).Website: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mexico/transport/getting-there-away
Date online: 16/11/09